Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Response to The Atlantic's The Real Reason the Humanities are in 'Crisis'

A brief response to The Atlantic's The Real Reason the Humanities are in 'Crisis'


     I'm apparently one of the few, one of the bold. Kidding aside, it makes me sad that not that many people get degrees in the Humanities as it is (less than 10%!), and to see that number dropping. But in my opinion, there's no crisis here, especially not because of a lack of women entering this discipline. If anything, this affords those already enrolled in the Humanities (of both genders) greater career opportunities in an already over-crowded and competitive field and indicates that those who are pursuing this track are here for the right reasons.

     Nothing's limiting women from studying History or the Classics so why act like it's a crime when women choose to pursue different subjects? Nothing to see here. Same goes for trying to force women into STEM fields when they're disinterested. Perhaps these studies should remember that individuals have different interests and occupational goals that shouldn't revolve around filling quotas over filling positions based on merit.

     Also, I don't think that a low percentage of a certain gender or demographic should indicate how many more people of a certain type "need" to be in this field or not. Whether there's only 2 women enrolled in the Humanities or 200,000, who cares? I think each of us should pursue what we're individually passionate about and where our talents align to fill the gaps that we alone were designed to fill. History will be better off for it.

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